French student in Civil Engineering, Ewald Charroin-Dupont joined Architen Landrell for a three-month internship this summer, so what did he think of seeing the world of tensile architecture from the inside?

As part of my course, I had to do an at least 6-week long internship in a civil engineering company. I have always been impressed by fabric architecture, and had already chosen to study such structures in previous school works. Thats why I applied at Architen Landrell, and I was glad to be accepted for this internship.

I have at once been welcomed very friendly in the company, people there are always willing to explain me what their work consists of. The design team installed me in a work desk next to theirs and helped me a lot using AutoCAD in the beginning.

I work along with the design team in patterning. This is the step between engineering and fabrication process. From the shape of the fabric structure divided into panels, I add seam allowances and any other fabric details to each panel on AutoCAD. Then I layout the panels to minimise wastage, and issue the patterns to the factory for manufacture. The last thing I have to do then is to draw general arrangement drawings to act as guides for manufacture and assembly.

I am also involved in project management and engineering, making some other drawings to assist project managers in various projects, or determining compensation lengths on Excel. This aims to compensate accurately for the anticipated stretch of the fabric. In this I am grateful for the confidence projects managers entrust in my work, and do my best to honour this trust by making as few mistakes as possible!!

I got the chance to be involved in a project for the Olympics as well, which allowed me to go on the Olympic construction site in London. This was an exciting experience.

I really enjoy working here. Unlike any work I do at school, everything I do here has a practical purpose. It is really thrilling to see the result of your work manufactured and to think youve been part of a big project, even if youve only brought little help to it.

I do think both technical knowledge and company functioning comprehension I have acquired here will prove useful for the rest of my studies.

Ewald Charroin-Dupont

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Author: Architen Landrell

For over 30 years, Architen has been at the forefront of the tensile fabric industry.